Congratulations to the Senior Students for their Talk for Writing efforts this Term.   The first half of the Term Explanation writing was our class focus.  The idea of writing an explanation sounds easy but everyone found it difficult at first.  But over time with lots of practice, Text Mapping, shared writing, boxing up features and structures and listening to exemplary texts most of the senior class established a good understanding of how to write an explanation.

Flory and Jahlile excelled in their Hot Task for their final explanation writing assessment.  Both used connectives effectively. 

The second half of the Term was dedicated to discussion writing.  This is a subtle form of writing where students have to consider both sides of an argument, weigh up evidence and come to a reasoned conclusion. A special congratulations to Brendon Sahara who started at Pia the week we started our discussion curriculum.  He wrote outstandingly well.  He wrote complex sentences, and enjoyed his work, Well Done Brendon.

Our school has implemented Explicit Teaching as our main teaching strategy.  In the senior room, I use   Explicit Teaching in my maths sessions to focus hard on a specific math topics.  For example, strands I have covered include adding simple fractions, mixed fractions, place value, and finding an average. These areas cover the Western Australian Maths Curriculum.  I believe Explicit Teaching  focusses students’ attention and is an excellent formative assessment classroom instrument.

Thrass has been Pia schools major drive for English.  The morning sessions in the senior class are dedicated to sounds, spelling, writing sentences and reading.  Students are required to spell and sound words continually. Importantly, there is a requirement for students to code-switch.  That is, they need to recognise the English they use at school is different to the English they use at home.

The end of Term is very busy.  In week 9 there will be assessments in both English and maths.  This will enable us to identify strengths of my students and areas where they require assistance.

Senior Class Teacher